Machine for removing weeds from railway roadbeds



A. SCHEUCHZER MACHINE FOR REMovING wEEDs FROM RAILWAY RoADBEDs Oct. 161923. 1,470,768

Filed/ April 19 1922 kto Patented Oct. 16, 1923.

UNITED STATES PATENT AUGUSTE scHEUcHzEalor EENEUS, NEAR LAUSANNE,ySWITZERLAND, ASSIGNoRTo EERRODESHERBEUSE scHEUcHzEE SOCIETE ANONYME, orEENEUS, SwiTzER-r LAND.Y

MACHINE EoR "REMovINc- `AWEEDS FRoM RAILWAY EoADBEDs.

To zZZwLo/wz'tma/ concern: l l j Be' it known that I, AUGUSTElSCHEUCHZER, a citizen of the Republic of'Switzerland, re? siding atRenens, near Lausanne, Switzerland, have invented certain new and usefulImprovements in Machines for Removing Weeds from Railway Roadbeds, ofwhich the following is a specification. L

The present invention relates tov a machine for removing weeds fromrailway road beds. This machineis provided like my copending applicationyiledjApril 28th, 1921, Ser. No. 465,272 with knives which are movedint-o and out ofthe ballast by -`means 0f an auxiliary motorautomatically actuated by membersV which contact with certain partsv ofthe road bed. I

The present invention has the samel gen- ,Y eral objects as thosedescribed in my copending application', with the addition of means forlimiting the stroke ofthe knives into the ballast. The main feature -ofthis improved form of machine is a slidable and rotatable sleeve on therod which is moved longitudinally by thek auxiliary motor. One edge ofthis sleeve is provided with notches preferably arranged in two opposedsets with which coact projections forteeth on a slidable non-rotatingSleeve which is also mounted on the longitudinally movable rod forregulating the stroke or raising action of the knives. The freelyrotatable sleeve has associated therewith a lever arrangement which isoperable by the driver and in order to'reduce the possibility ofaccidents to a minimum this lever device is con. nected with thetieengaging means which controls the loperation of the motor'r drivenknife means for ensuring of an automatic operation of the machine'especiallywhen engaging obstacles Von a road bed positioned above apredetermined fixed lever. result of this improvedr arrangement at eachroad crossing, that is, where the road is level with the rails thestroke-of the knives is so adjusted that the knives will not reach theground. j j

The inventionis clearly illustrated inthe accompanying drawings, inwhich Vz- Fig.` l is a side'elevational view of the improvedmachine,'the parts being arranged in the position in which the knivesare permitted their shortest Stroke, e

Fig. 2 is an enlarged extended plaude- Application filed April 19.y1922. Serial lira-55.55531. i

tail of they slidable and rotatable sleeve, as well as the slidingsleeve, and Fig. B is an enlarged transverse sectional detail of therotatable and'slida-ble' sleeve. Similarrcharacters of re'ferenceareemployed in all of the above described views, to indicate correspondingparts. H

accompanying drawings thekniv'es 15 oscillate about the axis 151Vlocated upon a Vsupport which is adapted to travel along the roadLbed'and these knives are' driven into Referring now, moreparticularly,to the the ballastk by means of the pivotally mount- Y. ed bell 'cranklever150. YOne'arm ofthe lever is connected to the piston rodi153 of thesteam cylinder; `the otherarm'V of `the lever has connectedthereto oneend'ofa connecting vrod 152, ythe opposite endfof which is associatedwithlknives'i 15. Pivoted" to and extendinglongitudinallyiand rearwardlyfrom the rod 15,2 fand slidable in bearings 155mounted in turn on thesupport is another rod 154. "A spiral spring 156 is disposed abouttherod 154'andhas oneend thereof bearing against the collar 15S which ispositionedin proximitytothe rear bearing 155. A sleeve 170 is slidablyand rotatably mounted on the rod adjacent the forward ybearing 155.' Therear edge of this sleeve 170 is provided with notchesar'-r ranged instepped formation'or preferably inopposed pairsu with each pair ofvarying depth. Another sleevelis also slidably mounted on the rod 154Candr is provided o n koneedge with longitudinally extending anddiametrically opposite projections or stops of the same width `as thenotches in theA sleeve 170 for coacting therewith in limiting the strokeof Athelongitudinal rods lland 154: ,and consequentlythe vknives 15.HA,The coacting engagement ofthe proj ectionsv with either Vof thesetsfof notches is eifectedaccording to the position ofthe turnableSleeve 170 on the rod 154g. This sleeve 170y is also connected to`onevarm ofja Lbell crank lever A 181 by means of any adjustablerod 182while the other armi ofethe'be'll crank lever/181 is slidably connectedwith; a linkthe'opposite end of which is pivoted to the lower end of ahand operated lever 180.V By means .of this lever 180 preferablyoperated by the enginel driver itis possible to adjust the angularposition of the sleeve on the rod 154C. One of the arms of the bellcrank lever 181 is also connected as a t160 with the connecting rod 161,the connection 160 f being adapted to operate in al slotted link,

' j the valve 165 for the steam cylinder 166 which actuates the pistonrod 163 in a manner substantially in accordance with the operation ofthe cylinder in inycopending application previously mentioned. Theadjustmentl of the stroke of the knives is yeffected by means of thecoaction betweenthe notches and the sleeve 170 andthe projections of thesleeve 157. A Vhen the sleeve 170 is partially rotated ona rod 1541 oneof the other sets of notches are in position to be contacted by theprojections on the sleeve 157. IWhen the parts are in the position shownin Fig. 1 the knives are operated in their shortest stroke. VThen it isdesired to move the parts into an inactive position as when travelingover a road crossing where the bed is level with the rails, the lever180 yis moved in the direction indicated by the arrow causing V4theinnerend ofthe slotted link to bear'against thel pivot point 160 toconsequently rock the bell crank lever 181 and by reason of connectionof the adjustable rod 182between this bellcrank lever and the sleeve 154the latter is turned so that the unnotched or free edged portions 170 ofthe sleeve 170 will abut or contact with the projections on the sleeve159 and as a result so limit the strokeof the knives 15 that they willnot engage the road bed. lVhen an obstacleprojects above the bed so thateffective working ofthe parts are endangered such obstacle is engaged bythe roller 162 and causes the arm 163 to turn anti-clockwise. fThisaction automatically effects an adjustment orvturning of the bell cranklever Y181 and the, sleeve 170 and consequently arranges the sleeves insuch a position that the stroke of the knives will be such that theyywill not Contact with the obstacle.

Having thus fully described theinvention what is claimed as new anddesired to be secured by Letters Patent is I 1. A machine of thecharacter described comprising a support adapted to traverse a railwaytrack, a knife carried by saidsup-k port7 motor actuated means forraising and lowering said knife, tie engagingA means controlling themotor driven means for automatically lifting the knife over the ties andmeans for regulating the knife raising action of the motor actuatedmeans 2. Armacliine of the character described lcomprising a supportadapted to traverse a lowering said knife, tie engaging meanscontrolling the motor driven means for automatically lifting the knifeover the ties and means including a reciprocal member for regulating the'knifel raising action of the ymotor actuated means.

3. A machine of the character described comprising a supportadapted totraverse railway tracks, aground engaging knife,`

motor actuated means for raising and lowering said knife,` tieV engagingmeans associated with the knife for controlling the motordriven meansfor automatically lifting the knife over the tie, and means forregulating the knife raising action of the motor actuating meansincluding a member connected to the motor actuating means and reciprocalin the support, coacting stops mounted on the member and an operableconnection between one of said stops and the tie engaging means forpartially rotating said stop, substantially as and for the purpose setforth.

t. A machine as claimed in cla-im 3 wherein one of the stops is slidablymounted on the member and is provided with opposed projections while thelother stop is turnably mounted on the member and is formed in its edgeadjacent the projections with series of notches of variable depths.

5. A machine as claimed in claim 3 wherein a manually operable levery ispivotally mounted on the support and operably connected with theoperable connection between the turnable 'sleeve and the tie engagingmeans, substantially as and for the purposes set forth.

6. A machine as claimed in claim 3 where! in the operable connectionbetween the turnable sleeve and the tieengaging means includes apivotally mounted bell crank lever, an adjustable` rodbetween one armofthe bell crank. lever and the turnable sleeve and a connectingv rodbetween the other arm of .the bell crank lever and the tie engaging y.AUGUSTE sonnuoiiznn

